Thread: Blue sky minter of a day…

It seems like eons ago since I last hunted under a blue sky.

These past four days have been a soul repairing escapade for this rain weary old bastard. And a few more good days to come it seems.

First thing in the morning and last thing in the evening isn’t too farkin’ flash though….. Jeez its been cold. Not just a good hoar frost but cold enough to freeze everything abso-farkin-lootly solid. Crunching through the frost in the dark at 6am to give yourself a chance at a deer at first light can be somewhat taxing.

But days like today are what it’s all about. A cold ride up the hill on the little Big Red, followed by a lung buster hike. Cresting the ridge, I spot a hind and last year’s fawn waaay over there, requiring a long stalk in open country with bugger all cover to get within range. I’m bum sliding down frosty open faces in clear line of sight to the deer, trying to look like a pig rather than a human. Honestly can’t believe I pulled it off. I really want to get both hind and fawn, but the last shooting position with a smidge of cover is still well over 300m away from where they are grazing the new grass. The last 50m to get there is a right bastard of a steep scramble up a muddy, slippery slope onto a wee knob that I’m pretty sure will give me the shot.

When I poke my head over the top of the scrubby brow, they’re still there, head down, bum up. Range 320m. I’m blowing like a bastard so I take a couple of minutes to chill out and think about what’s coming next. Take my time crawling onto the knob, I know I’m not skylined and there’s no indication the deer are on alert.

BANG! BANG! Success! Both animals take a short stagger and then tumble downslope. I wait a couple of minutes, glassing to make sure nothing gets back up. Time to get my shit together and set off for the long walk back to the bike. It’s a hard, slippery ride up the hill on the backtrack, but I can get the bike within a short drag downslope so no complaints whatsoever about the convenience of the field dressing. No carry-out required. Can’t believe there’s still blowflies in this cold...

Makes me feel like I’ve earned my brown ale.

I hope the rest of you have been able to get the best out of this welcome break from the shit weather.